Job appeals in this chapter to God for justice:
First, then, he begins to answer the reproach that he was punished for his own malice. Now Job recognized that he had been punished by divine judgment and so he has already said, “God confines me with the wicked,” (16:12) and therefore to search for the reason why he has been punished is to investigate the reason of divine judgment, which certainly no one can know but God alone. From this it is clear that Eliphaz had presumptuously asserted that Job had been punished because of malice. So he does not want to argue about this with Eliphaz, but turns the debate to God who alone knows the reason for his judgment. Now, Job could reckon that he was oppressed by divine judgment, if he had been punished for very great malice. Those who have been burdened by some judge usually approach the judge first. They cannot do this unless they find his bench and they cannot do this unless they know him beforehand. For no one can find something which he is seeking if he is altogether ignorant of it. Thus he says, “Who will grant me the ability to know him, find him, and approach his throne?” For he knew that God exceeded his knowledge, and so he could not find the road perfectly by himself to arrive at God’s throne which is the full knowledge of his judgment. He who has been burdened by a judge generally demonstrates the justice of his cause to him when he comes into his presence. So he says, “I will put judgment before him,” as if to say: I will propose what ought to be the just judgment of my cause. “I will fill my mouth with rebukes,” with loud complaints, but not because I believe that divine judgment is unjust, but only as someone making a inquiry. This is like debaters usually make objections against the arguments of their opponents, to understand the truth more fully, and so he says, “to know how he answers me.” This relates to knowing the truth of the answer. “To understand what he says to me,” relates to the understanding the sense of the words. For man cannot know whether something is true which is said to him unless he understands what is said to him.
In the previous chapter Job’s friends had frequently referred to divine power and grace as if to sustain divine judgment. As Sophar said in Chapter Eleven, “He is higher than the heavens and what will you do?” (v.8) and the other things which follow there. So he excludes this objection when he says, “I do not want him to argue with me with his great strength, nor crush me with the greatness of his power,” as if to say: Your answer in which the power and greatness of God are proposed against me alone does not satisfy me. Since just as he is most powerful and the greatest, so he is also the most just and loves equity. So he then says, “Let him propose fairly what he has against me,” that is, let him give an explanation which is based on equity, and it will be clear then that I have not been punished for malice. So he says, “and my claim will be victorious,” in which I argue against you maintaining I am not punished for my sins.
Go here to read the rest. In Christianity the mercy of God tends to be most spoken of, while in the Old Testament it was God’s justice. In the Old Testament there was no doubt that God could amend all ills if He wished, and the prayers tended to ask God to do so. After the Coming of Christ and His revelation that God marked the sparrow’s fall, it was impossible for Christians to be concerned to bring the attention of God to the evils that afflict the human condition, but rather to seek mercy for the evil within us all that ever seeks to rule us. Job puts up a mirror to Man and God that reveals concepts both familiar and foreign to us.
